How to Choose Skateboard Bearings: An Independent Guide

Introduction

A bearing sits inside every skateboard wheel and lets it spin freely around the axle. A skateboard has eight of them — two per wheel. Without them, the wheel would just grind against the axle and not turn at all. A bearing's job is simple on paper: minimize friction so as little of your push as possible is lost as heat and noise, and do it reliably, session after session.

What makes shopping for bearings confusing is that almost every package advertises an ABEC rating — a number like 3, 5, 7 or 9. It's reasonable to assume a higher number means a better bearing. It doesn't, at least not for skateboarding, and that's the first and most important thing to understand in this guide.

What ABEC actually measures: ABEC (Annular Bearing Engineers' Committee) is an industry standard for how precisely a bearing is manufactured — tolerances for dimensions, roundness and similar factors. It was developed for things like high-speed tool spindles spinning at 20,000–30,000 RPM. A skateboard wheel, in practice, rarely exceeds a few thousand RPM. On top of that, the ABEC scale measures nothing about side-loading, impact resistance, material quality, lubrication or sealing — exactly the things that determine whether a bearing survives you landing a trick or rolling over a crack in the pavement. A bearing with a high ABEC number but poor steel and poor lubrication can genuinely perform worse than an unbranded ABEC 3 bearing made with good materials. Several established bearing manufacturers, including Bones Bearings — one of the most established names in the industry — are open about considering the ABEC number essentially irrelevant for skateboarding, and have built their own skate-specific testing methods instead.

That doesn't make the ABEC number entirely meaningless as a buying signal — a more expensive bearing with a high ABEC rating often also has better steel and sealing, simply because it's the same manufacturer that invested in the whole package. But it's the material, sealing and build quality you're actually paying for, not the number itself.

The five things that actually determine how a bearing performs:

• ABEC rating — plays a small role, mostly as a rough signal of the manufacturer's overall ambition
• Material — regular steel, hybrid (steel races with ceramic balls), or full ceramic
• Sealing — open, shielded (loose cap), or sealed (tight cap/rubber ring)
• Lubrication — oil (faster, needs more maintenance) or grease (thicker, more maintenance-free)
• Build quality and construction — steel grade, precision of the retainer that holds the balls in place, and how well the bearing is balanced

What do the different materials actually mean?

Regular steel bearings

The industry standard. Both the balls and the races (the tracks the balls roll in) are steel, usually chromium steel (the same type used in high-quality industrial bearings). Good steel bearings are reliable, tolerate impacts well, and are significantly cheaper than the alternatives. The downside is that steel rusts if it gets wet and isn't dried/lubricated afterward, and steel is heavier and generates somewhat more friction than ceramic.

Hybrid bearings

Same steel races as a regular bearing, but with ceramic balls instead of steel balls. Ceramic balls are harder, rounder and smoother than steel, which lowers friction and heat buildup — but because the races are still steel, a hybrid bearing inherits steel's vulnerability to rust. Hybrids sit in between in price and performance: a noticeable feel improvement over budget steel, without the full cost (or fragility) of a full ceramic bearing.

Full ceramic bearings

Both balls and races are made of a ceramic material (usually silicon nitride). This is the most expensive category, often four to ten times the price of a good steel bearing.

Honest pros and cons:

• Performance: Ceramic has lower friction and holds speed longer between pushes — roughly 20–40% less friction in testing, though the practical difference often feels smaller than the numbers suggest.
• Moisture resistance: Ceramic doesn't rust and tolerates wet conditions significantly better than steel, making it attractive for riders in humid climates or who ride in rain.
• Impact sensitivity: This is the clear downside — ceramic is hard but more brittle than steel, and can crack or chip under a hard direct impact, such as a hard landing from height or a solid pothole hit at speed. A steel bearing tends to dent or deform instead of cracking, which often makes it more forgiving in practice.
• Price: Significantly more expensive, and a cracked ceramic ball generally can't be repaired — the whole bearing has to be replaced.
• Dirt sensitivity: Full ceramic bearings aren't immune to dirt and grit, but since ceramic doesn't rust and has lower inherent friction, they often tolerate a bit of dirt better than a steel bearing in the same condition.

The conclusion most independent sources land on: ceramic bearings are a genuine upgrade in feel and a real advantage in wet conditions, but they're not automatically "better" for everyone — especially not for riding with a lot of hard impacts, where a good steel bearing can be the more durable choice.

Recommendations by riding style

The picks below are categories, not individual products — within each category there are several good brands (see the neutral comparison further down). "Economy" means good performance for the price, "Ultimate Performance" means the best possible feel regardless of cost, and "Durability" means what tolerates the most dirt, impacts and heavy use before it needs replacing or cleaning.

Street

Street skating means a lot of impacts against hard surfaces, gravel, stairs and ledges — a high risk of impact damage to the bearing.

• Economy: A mid-priced, quality steel bearing with good (shielded) sealing. Holds up to most impacts and is cheap enough to replace often.
• Ultimate Performance: A premium steel bearing with high precision and good lubrication. Ceramic is often discouraged here specifically because of its impact sensitivity.
• Durability: A robust, sealed steel bearing that keeps out grit and dirt — prioritize sealing over raw speed.

Park / Transition / Vert / Ramp

Smoother, rounder movement without the hard direct impacts of street, but often higher average speed and longer sessions.

• Economy: A good mid-priced steel bearing with an open or shielded design for easy cleaning.
• Ultimate Performance: A hybrid bearing — ceramic balls give a faster, smoother roll through carves and transitions, without being as impact-sensitive as full ceramic.
• Durability: A good-quality sealed steel bearing; ramps are generally cleaner environments than the street, so dirt tolerance matters less than in street skating.

Downhill

High speeds sustained over long periods, often in wet conditions and on varied surfaces. Here, friction losses and heat buildup matter more than in any other discipline.

• Economy: A premium steel bearing with good lubrication and sealed construction — good speed at a reasonable price.
• Ultimate Performance: Full ceramic bearings. This is where ceramic's advantages — lower friction, no rust, stable performance in wet conditions — really pay off, and impact risk is lower than in street since it's not about landing into the bearing.
• Durability: A hybrid bearing with robust sealed construction — a good compromise between ceramic's moisture resistance and steel-race durability under sustained vibration over long runs.

Slalom

Fast, precise direction changes with relatively low top speed but constant side loading through the turns.

• Economy: A quality steel bearing with good precision and light (oil) lubrication for a quick response.
• Ultimate Performance: A hybrid or full ceramic bearing with oil lubrication — low friction is valuable when every tenth of a second counts in competition.
• Durability: A well-sealed, mid-priced steel bearing; competition courses are usually clean, which makes extreme dirt tolerance less critical than in street.

Freestyle / Cruising

Low to moderate speed, smooth riding, often in everyday conditions with mixed surfaces and weather.

• Economy: A reliable budget-to-mid-priced steel bearing — this is where the gap between expensive and cheap is least noticeable in practical riding.
• Ultimate Performance: A hybrid bearing, for a noticeably smoother, quieter feel without paying full ceramic price.
• Durability: A sealed steel bearing — cruising often means irregular cleaning schedules, so a tight construction that keeps out dirt and moisture is worth more than raw speed.

Technical / high-performance skating

Technical, progressive riding with high demands for consistent feel, often combined with a high frequency of impacts and precision tricks.

• Economy: A good mid-priced steel bearing with high, consistent manufacturing quality — consistency matters more than top speed here.
• Ultimate Performance: A high-quality hybrid bearing — the fastest, smoothest feel that still tolerates the impacts technical, advanced riding involves, without full ceramic's crack risk.
• Durability: A robust, tightly sealed steel bearing built for competition or heavy use, with a well-built retainer that keeps the balls in place under repeated loading.

Practical advice

How to maintain your bearings

Step by step:

1. Pull the wheels. Loosen the axle nut with a skate tool or wrench and slide the wheel off. Keep the small hardware (nuts, speed rings, spacers) together so nothing gets lost.
2. Pop the bearings out. Use the truck's axle as a lever: slide the wheel halfway onto the axle and twist outward to pop the bearing loose from the wheel hub.
3. Remove the shield/seal, if the bearing has a removable shield (not all do — some sealed bearings aren't meant to be opened). Gently pry it off with a pin or thin blade tool.
4. Soak and clean the balls and races in a clean solvent — isopropyl alcohol (ideally high concentration, 90%+), acetone or paint thinner all work well. Avoid citrus-based degreasers, which can leave a sticky residue. Swirl the bearing in the solvent for a few minutes to dissolve old grit and grease; swap in fresh solvent and repeat if it turns cloudy.
5. Dry completely and immediately. Moisture or leftover solvent will start rusting a steel bearing almost right away. Compressed air is best; otherwise spin the bearing quickly against a clean cloth or paper towel until fully dry.
6. Lubricate — see the right type and amount below, depending on the material.
7. Snap the shield back on until it clicks into place, and mount the bearing back in the wheel with its spacer and speed rings.

Do this roughly every 4–8 weeks with regular riding, more often if you ride a lot in rain, sand or gravel.

Which lubricant — and how much — depends on the material:

• Steel bearings (steel balls + races): Need regular lubrication — it's the steel surfaces generating friction and heat. Use a bearing-specific oil (e.g. a "speed cream" type product) or a light grease. Roughly 2 drops of oil per bearing is a common manufacturer recommendation (Bones, for instance). Oil gives a faster feel but needs more frequent reapplication; grease lasts longer between cleanings but gives a marginally slower feel.
• Hybrid bearings (ceramic balls, steel races): Also need lubrication — it's the steel race, not the ceramic balls, that requires it. Since the balls already have low friction, they need a smaller amount than a pure steel bearing — roughly 1 drop instead of 2. Too much oil here just adds unnecessary drag without adding anything useful.
• Full ceramic bearings (balls + races both ceramic): Need no lubricant to function — ceramic is essentially frictionless and doesn't build up heat the way steel does, so they can be run completely dry without unnecessary wear. Lubricating them lightly anyway is optional and can give a marginally higher top speed, but isn't necessary for durability.

Avoid general-purpose lubricants like WD-40 — it isn't made for bearings, evaporates quickly, and tends to attract dirt rather than repel it. And regardless of material: a completely dry or dirty bearing never performs well — the difference between materials is about whether they need added lubricant, not about whether they benefit from being clean.

Common myths

• "Higher ABEC = faster bearing." False — ABEC measures manufacturing tolerance, not speed or the quality of materials and lubrication.
• "An ABEC 9 bearing is always better than an ABEC 5." False — several established manufacturers skip ABEC labeling entirely and use their own skate-specific testing methods instead, precisely because the standard doesn't cover what matters for skateboarding.
• "The ABEC number guarantees durability." False — durability comes down to steel quality, sealing, and how well the bearing handles side loads, not manufacturing tolerance.
• "Ceramic bearings never need lubrication." Partly true, partly false — that only applies to full ceramic bearings (balls and races both ceramic). Hybrid bearings (ceramic balls, steel races) still need lubrication, just less than a pure steel bearing, because the steel race is still there generating friction just like in a regular steel bearing.
• "A dirty or dry bearing is fine as long as the material is good." False — whether it's steel, hybrid or full ceramic, a dirty bearing performs worse and wears faster. The difference between materials is whether they require added lubricant, not whether they benefit from being kept clean.

When are ceramic bearings actually worth it?

In short: when you ride a lot in wet conditions, cover long distances at high speed (downhill, longer cruising), or simply want the marginally faster, quieter feel and can accept that a bearing might fail if you land on it wrong. If you skate a lot of street with hard stairs and rails, or are price-sensitive, a good steel or hybrid bearing likely gives you more value with fewer surprises.

The importance of proper spacers and speed rings

These two small, cheap parts are often underrated:

• Spacers are metal cylinders that sit between the two bearings inside a wheel. They maintain a fixed distance between the bearings so the axle nut can't be tightened down and squeeze them. Without a spacer, over-tightening the nut can choke the bearing's rotation — even a top-tier bearing will feel sluggish then.
• Speed rings (speed washers) are thin washers that sit between the bearing and the axle nut, and between the bearing and the truck's hanger. They reduce friction against those surfaces, protect the bearing from direct metal-on-metal contact, and make it easier to mount and remove wheels without damaging the bearing.

Both parts cost almost nothing but can be the difference between a good bearing performing as it should or feeling sluggish despite the right material and cleaning routine.

A brief, neutral comparison of common brands

The skateboard bearing market is dominated by a handful of established brands, each with several product tiers from budget to premium. Without ranking them against each other:

• Some brands have built their entire lineup around specifically engineering bearings for skateboarding rather than using generic industrial bearings, with a focus on sealing and impact resistance.
• Others focus on a broad range across several price tiers, including genuine budget bearings that work well for beginners or low-intensity riding.
• Several smaller, more niche brands specialize specifically in ceramic or hybrid bearings for downhill and slalom riders.
• A number of board brands and skate shops also sell their own house-branded bearings, which are often rebranded industrial bearings at varying quality levels rather than in-house engineering.

The general rule: stick to brands specifically aimed at skateboarding (not generic industrial bearings sold without context), and spend your money on material quality and sealing rather than on a high ABEC number by itself.

Summary

There's no such thing as "the best bearing for everyone" — the right choice depends on how you ride, where you ride, and what you prioritize: price, top performance, or not having to think about maintenance. Start with your riding style in the table above, choose a material based on how hard and how wet you ride, and spend your money on sealing and build quality rather than a high number on the box.

Sources

• Bones Bearings — ABEC vs. Skate Rated
• Skateboarding.com — The ABEC Myth: Skateboard Bearing Ratings Explained
• Concrete Wave Magazine — Ceramic vs Steel Skateboard Bearings
• Surfertoday — What are bearing spacers and speed washers?
• Bones Bearings — Bearing Maintenance (official cleaning/lubrication guide)
• SMB Bearings — Do full ceramic bearings need lubricant?
• SMB Bearings — Cleaning ceramic and hybrid ceramic bearings
• Tactics — How to Clean Skateboard Bearings
• Boardcoast — Skateboard Bearing Lube Alternatives